Basketball Coaching and Time Management

When involved in the activity of Basketball Coaching one of the constant concerns for a good work and life balance is Time Management. Unfortunately, while basketball coaching for the majority of coaches is a passion, that is all it is. Most coaches, the vast majority of coaches spend their time involved in the activity of basketball coaching for the love of the game. If remuneration is found it is only very small by comparison to the years and years of volunteer hours leading up to that point. The good news is for all the volunteer coaches out there once you reach the lofty heights of professional basketball coaching then passion becomes a lifestyle that is all consuming. So there are pitfalls in becoming a professional coach with regards to time management.

Therefore, it does not matter if your basketball coaching happens at expense of your personal time, or if you are a professional doing the thing you love. How do you manage your time effectively and efficiently to ensure you get the most out of what you are doing and not waste effort or time.

One technique for helping separate those tasks needing your time and are important is to use the Covey Time Management Matrix. The Covey Matrix focuses on two aspects used for separating tasks. These are urgency and importance. Urgency describes the necessity of a task and is separated into two further categories of urgent and non-urgent. Importance refers to the significance or value of the task and is separated into two further categories of important and not important. Refer to the chart below to see a visual representation of these categories.

Covey Time Management Matrix

The goal of using the Covey Matrix is to identify the tasks and activities that belong in the “Gold” coloured area that are both urgent and important. These tasks should be of the highest priority. These tasks should be the items that if there is any conflict are to be completed first because they are necessities.

The next category are those items that are in the “Orange” coloured area. The tasks that fall into this area are about being productive and so therefore are important, but not necessarily urgent. These tasks are those that are worthwhile in completing, but do not have to be completed right now.

The next area is titled “Deception” and is the burgundy coloured area. Individuals often mistakenly see tasks in this as significant, but they are not. What these tasks are though is urgent and this often overshadows the lack of importance to the task being lower priority. It is important to correctly identify these tasks or activities because these are the items that if managed well will free up time. In basketball coaching by highlighting these tasks you will free up time for more important activities in the two earlier categories.

The final category are those tasks or activities that are not urgent and not important. This category titled “Waste and Excess” are often the things as we choose to do because they are convenient and are not pressured by urgency or importance. In basketball coaching these activities are the ones we choose to do to avoid facing harder or more complex problems. Eliminate these items and not only will your basketball coaching improve, but so too will the amount of time you have.

If you would like some more information in regards to the Covey Time Management Matrix or are interested in courses related to this concept, then log onto the FranklinCovey website http://www.franklincovey.com (no affiliate connection to Functional Basketball Coaching).